1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dental prosthesis, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a dental prosthesis which is configured to secure an artificial tooth made of metal, ceramic or the like, in a manner such that the artificial tooth takes the place of an extracted tooth.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an individual normally has thirty-two teeth as a whole, including an upper set of sixteen teeth and a lower set of sixteen teeth. As a child grows, all deciduous teeth which are completed in babyhood, are replaced with permanent teeth, and using these permanent teeth, mastication is executed throughout one""s whole life.
After the permanent teeth are formed as described above, one or more teeth can be decayed due to a diversity of dental diseases, such as a decay, a gumboil or the like. In this case, because sufficient stability is not provided under all pronouncing or chewing conditions and an aesthetic appearance is deteriorated, there are frequent occasions where a normal social life is adversely affected by the decayed teeth.
In an attempt to replace a decayed tooth, a dental prosthesis is employed, so that a masticating function, an aesthetic appearance and a normal pronunciation are recovered.
Dental prostheses are divided into a general dental prosthesis which replaces a severely decayed tooth, covers a decayed tooth or a tooth weakened by a nervous treatment or the like or fills a vanished portion of a tooth, an aesthetic prosthesis which repairs discolored teeth mainly in an anterior set of teeth and abnormally shaped teeth or removes a crevice defined between two teeth, and a fixed dental implant prosthesis which is installed by implanting an artificial tooth root element at a place where a decayed tooth is extracted and by securing an artificial tooth to the tooth root element, in such a way as to avoid inconvenience which can be induced upon grinding adjoining healthy teeth and using the artificial tooth in the general dental prosthesis.
Among the dental prostheses which are divided as described above, the general dental prosthesis which functions to replace a decayed tooth with an artificial tooth, is used, as can be readily seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, in a manner such that a pair of cap segments 11 which respectively define inner spaces corresponding to contours of two adjoining teeth 10, are integrally connected to an artificial tooth 12 so as to fixedly maintain the artificial tooth 12 and the entire dental prosthesis is fitted on the two adjoining teeth 10.
Since the dental prosthesis which is fitted on the two adjoining teeth 12, has a-shape which is similar to that of a crown, the general dental prosthesis is called a crown bridge 1.
While the crown bridge 1 provides advantages in that the prosthetic dentistry is simplified and the cost is reduced, due to the fact that the two adjoining teeth 10 which are respectively located at both sides of the artificial tooth 12, must be ground down by a thickness corresponding to the pair of cap segments 11 used for fixedly maintaining the artificial tooth 12, the two adjoining teeth 10 which are normally healthy, can be damaged. Also, if air, foreign substances and so forth flow into gaps which are defined between the two adjoining teeth 10 and the pair of cap segements 11, a serious problem can be induced in that the healthy teeth can begin to decay.
In this regard, the fixed dental implant prosthesis is provided to cope with disadvantages occurring in the general dental prosthesis. As described above, the fixed dental implant prosthesis is installed by implanting the artificial tooth root element into an upper jaw or a lower jaw at the place where the decayed tooth is extracted and by securing the artificial tooth to the artificial tooth root element using screws. In this way, unlike the case of the general dental prosthesis, the two adjoining healthy teeth are not degraded in their quality, and ill effects which can result from implementing a prosthetic dentistry device can be avoided.
However, the fixed dental implant prosthesis still suffers from defects in that a period of from six months to a year is often required for completing the prosthetic dentistry. and the cost is very high.
Moreover, implanting the artificial tooth root element, which is made of metal, into th e upper or lower jaw can cause mental trauma to the dentistry receiver, reducing the effectiveness of the prosthetic dentistry. Further, because the artificial tooth which is secured using the fixed dental implant prosthesis has reduced side-impact resistance, when a load is applied to the artificial tooth, the likelihood of serious damage to the upper and lower jaws is increased.
However, the fixed dental implant prosthesis still suffers from defects in that a period of six months at the least or one year at the most is required for completing the prosthetic dentistry, and a huge amount of cost is needed.
Moreover, by the fact that the artificial tooth root element which is made of metal, is implanted into the upper or lower jaw, since a mental burden is imposed on a dentistry receiver, an effectiveness of the prosthetic dentistry is impaired. Further, because the artificial tooth which is secured using the fixed dental implant prosthesis, has reduced is side-impact resistance, when a load is applied to the artificial tooth, the likelihood of the upper and lower jaws to be seriously damaged, is increased.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dental prosthesis which replaces a decayed tooth in a manner such that an artificial tooth can be independently secured to two adjoining teeth without using an artificial tooth root element and the two adjoining teeth and upper and lower jaws are prevented from being damaged, and to this end, includes an artificial tooth and a pair of securing means for securing the artificial tooth to two adjoining teeth, in a manner such that the artificial tooth serves as a female coupling element and each securing means serves as a male coupling element, whereby a prosthetic dentistry is simplified and a required sum is reduced, and a human-friendly prosthetics is enabled.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dental prosthesis comprising: an artificial tooth replacing a decayed tooth, the artificial tooth being made of a suitable material such as metal or ceramic and being arranged between two adjoining teeth which are respectively located at both sides of the decayed tooth, so as to take the place of the decayed tooth; and a pair of securing means for securing the artificial tooth to the two adjoining teeth, the artificial tooth serving as a female coupling element and each securing means serving as a male coupling element, whereby a prosthetic dentistry can be independently implemented.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the artificial tooth made of metal or ceramic, which constitutes the dental prosthesis and is independently secured, is defined, at both side walls thereof, with a pair of fitting grooves, respectively, which are opened at lower ends of the side walls and extend upward to a point corresponding to about ⅔ of a height of the artificial tooth in consideration of pressure resistance; the pair of securing means comprise a pair of inlay members which are respectively mounted to opposite side surfaces of the two adjoining teeth, so as to secure the artificial tooth to the two adjoining teeth; and each inlay member has substantially an H-shaped cross-section and comprises a fitting part which is fitted into the fitting groove defined in the side wall of the artificial tooth and a securing part which is formed with a plurality of projections in a manner such that the projections obliquely extend downward to define a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal line and the securing part is secured by the medium of the projections to the two adjoining teeth.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, each adjoining tooth to which the securing part of each inlay member constituting the securing means of the dental prosthesis is secured, is defined with a plurality of inserting grooves in which the plurality of projections are respectively inserted, the inserting grooves obliquely extending downward to define the predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal line.